A Dramatic Juniper with a Slight List to the Left

This dramatic Juniper may be leaning just a tad too far to the left (or is it just me?) Either way, too far left or just right, to my eyes its almost unbalanced feel creates just enough tension to add interest Continuing with Luis Vallejo’s bonsai, here’s one from our archives (Novemeber, 2012). All the photos shown here are from Luis Vallejo’s Museo Bonsai de Alconbendas. I borrowed them from the Bonsai Center Sopelana in Spain’s Basque Country Continued below… THREE NEW SPECIALS 25% OFF BONSAI WIRE FOR 3 OR MORE ROLLS 35% OFF ROSHI BONSAI TOOLS 25% OFF BONSAI … Continue reading A Dramatic Juniper with a Slight List to the Left

Bonsai Forest Rock Plantings

That’s Ryan Neil’s hand (Bonsai Mirai) posing for a professional photo with a very large root-on-rock planting. Here’s his caption: “In the studio today with @hornbecker shooting for the Artisans Cup promotional material” (from 2015). He doesn’t say what the tree’s are. If you’d like to see the uncropped original, it’s here We’re on a bonsai forest binge these days, so let’s keep going. Though it’s questionable if you’d call these rock plantings forests, they do share the multiple tree and some of the landscape features you’ll find with more conventional bonsai forests BONSAI TURNTABLE SPECIAL TURNTABLES ARE ALL INDIVIDUALLY … Continue reading Bonsai Forest Rock Plantings

Elements of a Bonsai Forest

I stumbled across this European hornbeam (Carpinus betulas) by Walter Pall on his Bonsai Adventures blog. The shot looks like spring with some trees lagging behind others Following up on yesterday’s forest post, here’s one that originally appeared here in 2014. I think it’s one of our best on forests and worth another look Focal point. Without the dominant tree this forest planting by Walter Pall would be a lot less interesting. With the dominant tree contrasted with rest of the trees, the planting has a focal point. With that focal point to organize around, balance, scale, a feeling of age … Continue reading Elements of a Bonsai Forest

Sheer Bonsai Power – Before & After

We usually start Before and After posts with an appropriate B & A photo (see below). But I couldn’t resist this one. I think it captures the essence of the tree. Or at least its size and sheer power I found this impressive before and after pine on Luis Vallejo’s timeline. The only caption provided is… “Hiroaki Suzuki , Pinus sylvestris, Luis Vallejo Bonsái Garden.” We know Luis from numerous posts here on Bark and we also know a bit about Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine). I’m not familiar with Hiroaki Suzuki, but if you’d like to do a little research, here’s a link for you … Continue reading Sheer Bonsai Power – Before & After

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, this time with new photos

Japanese apricot (often referred to as Ume) at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in Saitama, Japan. You can see the whole tree below We’re going to continue with the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum today, but this time with newly posted photos from their facebook timeline. Ones we’ve never shown before 20% OFF EVERYTHING SITE WIDE SALE ENDS TONIGHT PLUS AN EXTRA 10% TO 20% OFF ROSHI TOOLS AN EXTRA 10% OFF BONSAI POTS THESE SPECIALS END WEDNESDAY, JAN 23RD AT 11:59PM EST – Star jasmine fully cascading with all the foliage below the pot Another Japanese apricot (Ume). This time … Continue reading Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, this time with new photos

Sabina Juniper, Another Happy Accident

The original caption from Milan Karpíšek reads “Sabina of my friend ready for a show.” From this we might assume that the tree belongs to a friend and was styled by Milan, but we know about assumptions. The trees shown here are from Milan Karpíšek’s fb photos (Milan is from the Czech Republic). Like many of the bonsai featured here, these were discovered by accident (aka stumbled upon). A happy accident as it turns out After yesterday’s post featuring three Sabina (aka Savin) junipers (Juniperus sabina). I went back to see others we’ve featured over the years and was surprised by just how many there … Continue reading Sabina Juniper, Another Happy Accident

One Famous Bonsai Artist, One Tree & One T-Shirt

I love this tree with its gently flushed little apples (crabapples), its muscular trunk, subtle movement, gradual taper and well-aged bark. I even love its handlebar branches.* Today it’s The Venerable** Walter Pall, famous bonsai artist, entertainer and entrepreneur. We’ll keep it short and sweet with just one tree and one photo of the man himself (the tree is worth a whole post to itself and needless to say, the same goes for Walter) STONE LANTERN’S SPECIALS END TOMORROW NIGHT see below – Walter in his American Bonsai T-shirt *Thanks to joakimthoresen **If you’re really good at something and you live long enough, you might become … Continue reading One Famous Bonsai Artist, One Tree & One T-Shirt

Quality Bonsai Deserves Quality Stands

Closeup of a Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) that was exhibited by John Kirby at the 2018 National Bonsai Exhibition. The display table was built by David Knittle (details are below with the uncropped photo) Flashing back to the 2018 6th National Bonsai Exhibition, here are a couple trees from the Exhibition that we haven’t shown yet, and one other tree that was shown at the 2018 Mid Atlantic Bonsai Festival. All three are on display tables that were built by David Knittle 20% OFF BONSAI WIRE SPECIAL ENDS tonight Choose from our vast array of sizes & types of … Continue reading Quality Bonsai Deserves Quality Stands

Bonsai Berries & a Failed New Year’s Resolution

This prolific Pyracantha was our 2018 New Year’s tree. I don’t know who the artist or owner is (more about this below), but my guess is the tree is Japanese Here’s my New Year’s resolution from 2018… No more unattributed trees on this blog (uh… except for the one just above). So I failed on the first day last year and the failure reoccured throughout the year (you can take this as a metaphor if you’d like). In light of this, here’s a more realistic resolution for this year… I will attribute the trees we post when possible and encourage all of us who have been … Continue reading Bonsai Berries & a Failed New Year’s Resolution

Bougainvillea Bonsai, Before & After

Bougainvillea, before and after. Now you know how Suthin gets those thick trunks on such small bonsai… hint, he cuts older larger plants way back (obviously, there’s more to it than just that, but you have to start somewhere). This works best with tropicals that can handle the stress and have no problem putting out new buds Continuing with Suthin Sukosolvisit’s bonsai (see yesterday’s post). I borrowed these photos from a post we did on some of Suthin’s tropicals back in March 2015 (with some doctoring and rearranging today). To enjoy more of what Suthin is up to, you can visit him on facebook … Continue reading Bougainvillea Bonsai, Before & After